Reading so many amazing blog posts today really got me fired up about race relations not only in America overall, but in University Park Pennsylvania. To start off if you were wondering that the title of my blog post means I shall explain soon.
As the extra extravert that I am, I have really tried to get to know not only my lovely residents these past two semesters (if you didn’t know already I am an RA in Pollock), but almost all the students in Ritner, especially the Bunton-Waller scholars.* Before school even started all of the RA’s and the Scholars spent a day together outside getting to know each other and forming the Ritner community. I try to say hi to every student I see in the building and from there I have said hi to them walking to class or even at the gym. I study in the huge study room with them almost every day and love to chat and catch up with anyone I see. Once in the dining halls I went alone and a group of 4th floor boys invited me to eat lunch with them and it was a super fun way to get to know them better. But the main thing about Ritner hall is that it is the most diverse building on campus, which I think is SWAGTASTIC, but at the same time sad. A resident once told me that they call the combination of Wolf- Ritner (the two residence halls that the residents have access to) the Pollock Projects because it’s as if Penn State squished all the minorities into one area. Just yesterday I had lunch with three of my residents and they talked about how “white” east was and that none of them could even fathom living there and honestly who could blame them. As a white student who did live in east I cannot remember seeing any person who was not white 99% of the time or more. But I still have mixed emotions about the so-called Pollock Projects. My residents seem to thrive living with people like them and having a built-in support group for being a person of color on campus. Most of my student’s study together in the PRCC and have told me great things about Blueprint and their involvement in SMART and the Latino Caucus. All things that I did not even know existed up until this year ( sad, but true). I honestly think everyone benefits from living in a diverse area because there are so many more opportunities to learn and grow through interactions with others and being able to see their distinct and special cultures. I know I have benefited greatly and have become a much better person because of how wonderful my residents are. They are open, smart, kind and really are willing to teach me about things I don’t know about without judgement, but with an open heart. I hope and believe they see that I do the same. The only bad part about the “Litner” (nickname for Ritner because it’s so LIT) is that it is confined to such a small portion of Penn State. I wish we had more Pollock Projects at Penn State where a greater amount of people can obtain the feeling of home, but also meet and interact with a diverse group of people. I truly believe diversity is what is missing at Penn State. It is the key to getting a worthwhile education because it would be an education no student can get in the classroom but comes in the form of friendship and open mindedness.
*P.s. If you were unsure about the Bunton-Waller scholarship I have attached some great information about it below from the Penn State Eberly College of Science website and a link below if you have more questions or wanted to learn more about it
http://science.psu.edu/diversity/bunton-walller-fellows-and-lenfest-scholars-program/BWWho.htm
The Mildred S. Bunton and Calvin H. Waller Undergraduate Fellows program seeks to enhance the diversity of undergraduate representation at The Pennsylvania State University.
The Bunton-Waller Fellows program attracts students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds who have demonstrated academic potential and are eligible to attend Penn State. The scholarship offers full in-state tuition, room and board to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania residents, and out-of-state tuition to non-resident first-year students, resulting in a student body that more closely reflects the cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity in Pennsylvania and the nation.
Bunton-Waller Fellows must enroll at the University Park campus and live in Ritner Hall during their first academic year in order to receive the award.
Who are Bunton and Waller?
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Mildred Settle Bunton, 1932
In the face of overwhelming poverty, Mildred Settle Bunton refused to let economics steal her dream of attending college. Mildred, recognized as the first African-American female to graduate from Penn State, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Human Development in 1932. She worked for faculty in exchange for room and board, borrowed money for tuition, and won scholarships from the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women. Money was not Mildred’s only obstacle; when she arrived at Penn State in 1929, she was the only African-American co-ed on campus.
She went on to earn a Master’s degree in nutrition from Cornell University in 1953. Her career accomplishments include: Director of Dietetics at Freedmen’s Hospital, Associate Professor at Howard University, worked with the 1969 White House Conference on Nutrition, Food and Health, and Subcommittee Chairman on the District of Columbia’s Mayors Commission on Food, Nutrition, and Health. In 1983, Mildred was listed in Who’s Who Among Blacks in Metropolitan Washington.
Calvin Hoffman Waller, 1904
Desegregation often brings to mind the timeless images of the Civil Right’s struggle: protest marches, the Kent State anti-war demonstration, the “Whites Only” signs. Sometimes the most amazing stories of desegregation slip by with little notice and leave a lasting legacy for diversity. Calvin Hoffman Waller, class of 1904, is believed to be Penn State’s first African-American graduate, although there are no official school records from that time to indicate the students’ racial identity. A native of Macon, GA, Calvin earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture.
His arrival on campus does not seem to have provoked any disturbances; instead, he distinguished himself as an accomplished vocalist and quarterback for the football team, the Tumblers. His professional accomplishments include: Associate Editor of Penn State’s La Vie, Head of the Agricultural Department at Prairie State University in Texas, faculty member at Haynes Institute in Augusta, GA, and Texas State Leader of Negro Extension work.
“Who Are Bunton and Waller?” Penn State Science, The Pennsylvania State University , 2019, science.psu.edu/diversity/bunton-walller-fellows-and-lenfest-scholars-program/BWWho.htm.
Hi Sam,
Being a Pollock RA in the past, I definitely agree that the difference is notable. I had 39 boys on my floor, of which around five were POC/LGBT. As both POC and LGBT, I hope I imparted representation, and the value thereof, to my guys.
It seems like a problematic deficiency if seen without context. Since our school caters to an area that is largely white, it must have an equal ratio of those students residing in the halls. PSU does try to attract more POC/LGBT students every year. However, it can do better if it changed its approach. Currently, minority students have a decorative status in this school, to improve numbers and align with the globalist image of the school. In order to attract more students, we’ve had several gimmicky things going on, like the posters on College Ave that say “you’re welcome”, the rainbow-stickers on every door that mark it as a safe-space, and the ALL-IN campaign, which, to this day, I don’t know what its policies were. These measures work at face value, but don’t do anything actively to turn towards a culture of tolerance and acceptance. I think the focus has to be in terms of representation and not numbers of students. POC/LGBT will be less in PA, because the world isn’t homogeneously divided. However, it doesn’t mean that their stories are equally divided too. I think Penn State does a fairly good job of marketing itself as a diverse school, in theory, but it obviously doesn’t end up working because of the gimmicks I mentioned above. One way to look at it would be to force people from different experiences to live together. But that takes away your freedom of choice and roommate, and it’s not the school’s place to tell you who you should live with in order to gain a fulfilling college experience. Again, as both POC and LGBT, I’m slightly meh about living in East. I can’t imagine going around the stalls, brown-bodied and “exotic” and somewhat enigmatic for my life experiences 24×7. Can you imagine some people actually though I went to school on an elephant? Universal acceptance, in any form of discourse, is such a challenging thing to do, and I always end up going in circles looking for solutions. I was very comfortable in the honors dorms because I was sure that the students were the top 2% at Penn State, which would generally equate to global awareness. Probably I’m ranting at this point, but thanks for your blog post!